Editing Unlimited Fafnir:Volume 4 Chapter 2 (section)

===Part 4===

After touring the waterfall, we headed back to town, bustling as a result of the festival.

Narrower streets were turned into pedestrian areas while vendor stalls were packed along entire streets. Sounds of firecrackers or fireworks could be heard from somewhere.

Shinomiya-sensei had handed out banknotes issued by the Principality of Erlia to everyone, saying "this is part of this mission's remuneration." Hence, we were going to use the money to go shopping happily.

"Nii-san, this dagger looks cool, right?"

Mitsuki showed me an ornate dagger that she had bought at high price from a shady vendor. It felt kind of like those wooden swords you'd buy during a school trip.

"...What's the use of buying something like that?"

"Not to be used, I will simply admire and view it. Do you not sense any dreams or adventures from the past, Nii-san?"

"Dreams or adventures from the past?"

The way I saw it, the dagger did not seem very old, but I'd better not spoil Mitsuki's lovely dream.

"Nii-san, it looks like you have no mind for understanding dreams and adventures."

Perhaps getting no reaction from me, Mitsuki went to find Lisa and show her the dagger.

The others seemed to be purchasing all kinds of souvenirs but I only planned on buying food. Since there was no telling when we might be attacked, I did not want excess baggage.

Kili was walking in the middle of our group while Shinomiya-sensei followed next to her.

There were currently no suspicious movements nearby. Iris was the only person behaving suspiciously.

Iris was hanging out with Lisa and the others but kept glancing at me from time to time. Whenever I tried to approach her, she blushed and hid behind Lisa and the others. This kept repeating.

"Iris, about just now—"

"Oh, n-not now, Mononobe! You need to be patient longer!"

I wanted to clear up the misunderstanding as quickly as possible, but Iris kept saying that and avoiding me all over the place. There was no end to it.

"Yuu, are you playing tag with Iris?"

Seeing our situation, Tia asked incredulously."

"No, it's not like that..."

I sighed and shook my head.

"Since you're not playing with Iris, then Tia wants you to help pick souvenirs."

Saying that, Tia pulled my arm and brought me to a stall selling accessories. Fine—It looked like I'll just have to come back to Iris' matter later, so I'll accompany Tia to pick out souvenirs for now.

"Which is better, Yuu?"

Tia pointed at exquisitely crafted hairpins and brooches, asking for my opinion.

"Let's see... This one suits you, right?"

After a quick look at the accessories laid out on sale, I pointed at a pink brooch in the shape of a flower.

"Ah, so cute! Tia wants to buy this one! Uh, how much—?"

"Oh, hold on, let me buy it."

"Ehhh!? Yuu wants to buy this?"

Tia asked me in shock. I replied with a wry smile.

"I'm not wearing it, what I mean is: I'm going to buy this as a gift to you, Tia."

Since I had no plans to buy souvenirs myself, there was no way I was going to use up the cash given to me, so buying a gift for Tia would be a good idea.

"Eh...?"

Just as Tia was staring speechlessly, I had already paid the vendor and received the flower brooch.

"Don't move for the time being."

I bent down in front of Tia and pinned the brooch in front of her chest.

"Yeah, this really suits you. Tia, it's very cute on you."

Saying that, I rubbed Tia's head. She immediately went red in the face and looked down.

"T-Thank you... A gift from Yuu... Tia will cherish it forever and ever."

Cradling the brooch in her hands, Tia thanked me in a slightly trembling voice. Seeing her acting a bit strange, I peered at her face.

"What's wrong?"

"Tia dosn't know... Tia's chest hurts despite feeling very happy. Oh... Tia will return to Lisa!"

I saw Tia leave me a little frantically, rushing towards Lisa and the others who were in front of a vendor opposite to us.

"Yuu, thank you so much!"

Tia looked back along the way and thanked me again.

Although I felt that her reaction was somehow different from usual, seeing her so happy, I thought there was probably no problem.

—My remaining money seemed enough to get another one.

Although brooches turned out to be more expensive than I imagined, my leftover money was enough to buy another accessory.

—That one seems to suit Iris.

"Please give me that one."

I bought a butterfly-shaped hairpin and placed it in my pocket. A small accessory of this sort would be easy to carry around.

The spare change remaining in my hand would probably get spent buying food at the stalls.

Hence, I bought a skewer of deep-fried fish without thinking.

"...Wow, this tastes good."

While sweet and delicious juices were spreading in my mouth, I could not help but exclaim in praise.

I had not expected much from the taste since it was something I picked randomly, but it turned out to be quite tasty.

Then I saw Firill approach, having bought the same food as me.

"That's probably fish that was caught in the river downstream of the waterfall we visited earlier. Since it happens to be the time of the year when fish swim upstream, the flesh is very rich and tasty."

Firill enjoyed her fish with an expression of joy.

"Wow, Firill, you even have chances to buy this kind of street food?"

"...I bought it secretly. I remember it was during Grandmother's funeral."

Firill stared in the distance nostalgically.

"Was it this lively back then too? It totally doesn't feel like a funeral."

Staring out at the city filled with smiles and cheering, I told her that.

"...Even so, this is still a ritual for seeing off the deceased. Putting it in Japanese terms, it's a festival for seeing off souls—a ''konsousai'', so to speak."

"Konsousai huh... Now that you mention it, there is that kind of feeling."

My country also had a custom of seeing souls off in a festival. If I think of it as holding the festival starting at the funeral stage, then there was nothing out of place.

Perhaps overhearing our conversation, Ariella, who was nearby, also joined in.

"—What a great custom. It it's this lively, I'm sure the souls will forget their sorrow."

I could feel from Ariella's tone of voice what seemed to be sincere feelings from the heart, so I secretly glanced at her expression.

Come to think of it, before setting off for the Principality of Erlia, Ariella had mentioned seeing souls in the past. Firill also seemed to recall this. Slightly hesitantly, she inquired:

"Ariella... Do you really believe in souls?"

"Yes, I do."

Ariella asserted clearly.

"Could it be that... Ariella, you can see souls?"

Firill could not help but inquire whether she had spiritual powers. Ariella's sense of conviction was strong enough to raise this kind of question.

However, Ariella smiled wryly and shook her head.

"No, I'm not that kind of person. I just happened to be at a place where souls could be seen."

"...What happened there?"

Hearing such a strange way of putting things, Firill frowned.

Somewhat hesitantly, Ariella's gaze wandered for a while before she asked me and Firill:

"Do you know what power the yellow dragon—'Yellow' Hraesvelgr—uses?"

"Huh...?"

Firill did not seem to understand why a dragon was suddenly brought up. She sounded puzzled.

Although I could not figure out what Ariella was getting at, I asked on behalf of the baffled Firill.

"Isn't Hraesvelgr's power still unknown? I've only heard that it's the hardest to fight, a dragon which all attacks are ineffective against."

"—Yeah. Current science cannot explain the phenomena caused by Hraesvelgr, but anyone should be able to understand if they witnessed in person. Even if it's impossible to analyze with science, you can understand it through feeling."

"Ariella... Have you seen Hraesvelgr before?"

Hearing my question, Ariella nodded.

"Yes, according to myths, Hraesvelgr is a magical bird that swallows souls—And it's just as the legends describe. Before coming to Midgard, I lived in an unstable country. On many occasions, I witnessed Hraesvelgr materializing the souls of those who had died in war then devouring them."

"Materializing... souls?"

I don't know if this description is correct... But that's what it looked like to me, at least. Someone has also proposed the same hypothesis as mine. According to that person, Hraesvelgr's ability uses ether, a medium of unconfirmed particles, to materialize souls."

Ariella stopped at this point and looked away from us. Her gaze seemed to be directed at Ren who was together with Iris and the others.

Was the subject related to Ren somehow? Although I was curious, Ariella continued before I could ask.

"—But because current science does not recognize the existence of souls, that person's hypothesis was ridiculed. People called him a failure who had given up on scientific scrutiny to escape into the realm of the occult."

In other words, because souls could not possibly exist, what appeared to be phenomena involving the materialization of souls ought to have other explanations that could be established—That was probably what the people laughing at him thought.

There was nothing intrinsically wrong with that kind of attitude. Basilisk's time-erasing ability also could not be explained fully with science. Even so, that ability interfered with the actual existing concept of ''time''. Precisely because of that, we were able to take countermeasures against weathering, thus successfully defeating Basilisk.

However, souls were something fleeting and intangible, whose existence was not even clear. Even if something like that could explain Hraesvelgr's ability, we could not formulate countermeasures based on that.

"Ariella—"

"No, I understand even if you don't say it. Even if it's a correct idea, a hypothesis that cannot be applied has no value. However—I believe what I saw were souls."

While saying this, Ariella had an unnatural smile surface on her face, like she was enduring pain and sorrow.

"...Really? In that case, I choose to believe too."

"Huh?"

"Ariella, you're always calm and composed with accurate judgment. Compared to what was said by some scholar whom I've never met, I believe in your instincts more."

I shrugged and voiced a matter-of-fact conclusion.

"...Me too. Since it's coming from you, Ariella, I believe too. I'd be skeptical if it were someone else, but you never lie, Ariella."

Firill also nodded in agreement and held Ariella's hands.

"If souls exist, I think what I said will reach Grandfather. Thank you, Ariella."

"Ooh..."

Ariella went bright red, looking very awkward. I guess she was still the same as before, unused to receiving praise or thanks from others.

"I-I didn't speak to be thanked! N-No need to thank me, I-I'll be on my way!"

Ariella walked towards Ren as though she could not bear the embarrassment.

Left behind, Firill and I looked at each other with a smile.

However, I noticed at this time that there was a change in the crowd. Something seemed to have happened up ahead. The people had stopped walking. The tide of people had halted.

I stood on tiptoe to check out the situation, only to see a costume parade passing through the crossroads ahead.

Pop!

At this moment, small explosions could be heard in the adjacent alley with the rising of white smoke.

Frightened pedestrians flooded in our direction. Walking in front, Kili and Shinomiya-sensei were swallowed by the crowd.

—So the enemy is here!

This was most likely to separate Kili from us.

"Firill, you go and join Mitsuki and the others. Tell them not to move from this spot for now."

"Eh? Mononobe-kun... Where are you going?"

"Please, I'm counting on you!"

Without enough time to answer her, I rushed into the chaotic crowd.

Back at the waterfall, I had already told Kili concisely the enemy's attack approach.

Namely—to move towards places with fewer people.

I forcibly pushed through the crowd and entered a small alley opposite to the smoking location.

Just as I predicted, Kili was there.

"—Aren't you too slow? I'd feel troubled if you don't protect me."

Kili combed her tousled hair with her hand and glared at me. There was a faint scratch on her cheek.

"You were attacked?"

"Yes, it was apparently launched during the earlier flood of people, but this level is nothing to be concerned about."

Kili moved her fingertip along the wound. Immediately, black bubbles of dark matter flowed out and erased the laceration cleanly within the blink of an eye.

"Biogenic transmutation—Seeing it again, it's really amazing."

"So long as I remain conscious, it's possible to heal any wound no matter how severe. However, getting sliced by a blade still hurts, even to the point of infuriating me, making me want to burn the enemy along with everyone in the surroundings to death."

Kili's cold and merciless gaze looked at the streets packed with people.

"...I won't allow that."

Feeling that she was definitely not joking, I warned her seriously.

"Oh my, how scary. Sure, while you're protecting me, I won't do anything to anger you. Then what do we do next?"

Without showing any fear, Kili smiled with delight and asked for my future plans.

"...We will move deliberately to a place where the enemy can easily attack. Once we're there, we'll defeat everyone who comes attacking."

"Okay, very simple. Awesome."

Kili smiled fearlessly.

Hence, we ran deeper in the alley.

Although it was a narrow alley, it was not completely devoid of pedestrians. Running at full speed, passing through a crowd that was heading for the main road, we searched for a deserted location.

Going against the flow of people in this manner for a while, we found a square-shaped open area in the alley. It seemed to be a plot of land left behind after a house was demolished recently.

After confirming there was no one in sight, I said to Kili.

"We'll intercept them over there."

Anti-personnel weapon—AT Nergal.

While running, I generated dark matter and transmuted it into a projectile-based stun gun. Holding Nergal's familiar grip in my hand, I gradually focused.

"Understood. Attacks launched from afar can be handled by my Muspelheim. I'll leave close-range enemies to you."

We stopped in the center of the open space then turned our gaze to the dark alley where the enemy was approaching from.

"—Very well, bring it on."

As soon as Kili said that with a grin, the air temperature in the surroundings rose all at once.

Spreading out tiny dark matter in a broad area to convert into thermal energy, then using it for offense and defense, that was Kili's "Muspelheim."

She had probably deployed a barrier of thermal energy in the surroundings as a precaution against attacks that out-ranged her.

At this moment, there was restless presence coming from the shadows in the alley. The enemy might have decided to attack. I could feel murderous intent stinging my entire body like needles.

...Only one person?

Finally getting a bead on the number of presences, I was surprised by the result.

A muzzle flash came from the depths of the dark alley.

—Sizzle!

But before the bullet could reach us, it vaporized with a red glow.

Due to the intense temperature differential in the air, the surrounding scenery was shimmering in the heat.

Unfazed, the enemy switched to fully automatic fire and shot while approaching. I was struck by the smell of melted metal.

Next, the enemy tossed a cylindrical object between firing. The object exploded in midair, producing white smoke.

The enemy had apparently figured out Muspelheim's weakness.

Dark matter's greatest vulnerability was interference from ordinary matter. Small particles of dark matter would easily get worn away and disappear when covered by smoke. I had tried the same method to break through Muspelheim in the past, but—

"I knew you would take countermeasures of this level."

Kili smiled confidently and dark matter appeared in the surroundings like black snow.

To prevent them from getting worn away by smoke so easily, she had enlarged the dark matter. But all Ds without exception had a limit to the amount of dark matter they could generate in one go.

Increasing the size of each piece of dark matter meant that Muspelheim's range would shrink accordingly.

Seizing that opening, a petite figure stepped into the open space. Running with a low posture as though sticking to the ground, the figure threw a machine gun at us.

As soon as the machine gun entered the range of the fluttering black snow of dark matter, it instantly burned red-hot and exploded from internal expansion.

Amidst the smoke and dust with the smell of gunpowder, the enemy held a large-caliber handgun as a replacement.

We were roughly ten meters apart. At this distance, I finally saw the opponent's face clearly.

Platinum blonde hair fluttered amidst smoke and dust from the explosion. Those golden eyes seemed to pierce everything.

I recognized him. John Hortensia—Sleipnir's ''sniper''.

"!"

Realizing his intent, I extended my left palm.

By focusing my consciousness on the muzzle pointed in our direction, I predicted the bullet trajectories.

John would not normally fight on the frontlines like this. Sniping targets from the distance was his job. But in the current situation, there was no one better suited than him for breaching Kili's Muspelheim.

While running, he kept pulling the trigger.

Instead of getting stopped by the barrier of thermal energy, the fired bullets pierced through instead.

The reason was simple. Although the air was filled with dark matter, he was aiming the bullets through the gaps between the dark matter. Kili was creating a thermal energy barrier by transmuting dark matter, which meant vulnerable spots could be found if the positions of all dark matter were acquired from the start.

From a common sense standpoint, this was mere theoretical talk, but John's "eyes" were capable of turning theory into practice. Now that the dark matter was large enough for the naked eye to see, he was matter-of-factly demonstrating his godly aiming skills.

Anti-materiel armor—Damascus 09P!

Knowing his intentions, I had already used transmutation to create shields to block his bullets.

Clang—...!

Manifesting along the bullet trajectories, the heavy armor plating deflected bullets with acute metallic sounds.

"Eh...?"

Seeing bullets pass through Muspelheim, Kili exclaimed in surprise.

"I'll take care of this guy! Kili, you guard against other attacks!"

While saying that, I shot Nergal at John. Nergal was a projectile-based high-voltage electroshock gun almost guaranteed to render the victim unconscious on contact, but John jumped backwards to dodge as though he had predicted my action.

While blocking the line of sight between John and Kili, I rushed forward. Firing Nergal, I dashed out of Muspelheim and closed in.

John frowned and fought back with gunfire.

Since Kili was behind me, I could use armor plating created from transmutation to accurately block John's shots. Exactly because his aim was precise, reading his bullet trajectories was quite easy. John seemed to have no intention of killing me, only aiming at my shoulders and legs.

Seeing me right before his eyes, John reached behind him with his left hand and tossed a certain black object at me.

Anti-explosive armor—Uruk 73E!

Thinking it was a grenade, I instantly deployed anti-explosive armor but what accompanied the blast was a surge of black smoke.

—Another smokescreen...!?

Covering my mouth and nose, I jumped back. Obscured by the smoke, I could not see him.

"What—Uwah!?"

I heard a cry of pain from behind the smoke, then the sound of panicking.

Then the smoke was blown away by the wind, gradually revealing a clear view of the scene.

"Huh?"

The sight rendered me speechless.

John was pinned down on the edge of the open space. The one who had subdued him was my classmate—Ariella Lu.

"I'm not clear on what's happening, but this looks like an enemy, so I captured the enemy first."

Restraining John's joints splendidly, Ariella smiled cheerfully as usual.